Music for a Sunday Afternoon: Samara Quartet

April 15, 2018 3:00 pm

Marlboro College Presents Samara Quartet
Sunday, April 15, 3pm
Ragle Hall, Serkin Center for the Performing Arts

This exciting new quartet was formed in the summer of 2017, bringing together four established musicians who have dedicated their professional lives to chamber music, Louisa Stonehill, Marcia Cassidy, Paul Cohen, and Nicholas Burns. British-American violinist Louisa Stonehill has performed throughout Europe, Canada, Mexico, UK, and across the US.

Her performances are recognized for being “open-hearted and superbly characterized,” (Glasgow Herald) and Gramophone magazine branded her a “passionately committed advocate.” Marcia Cassidy, viola and violin, is an active chamber music recitalist, and member of the faculty at Dartmouth College, where she teaches violin and viola, coaches chamber music, and leads sectionals for the Dartmouth Symphony. As the violist of the Franciscan String Quartet, she performed extensively in the United States, Europe, Canada, and Japan to critical acclaim. Cellist Paul Cohen began his professional career with the Atlanta Chamber Players in 1982 before joining the Apple Hill Chamber Players in New Hampshire in 1986.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1996, he performed with ensembles such as Camerata Pacifica, Pacific Serenades, and the Dunsmuir Quartet and became a founding member of the New Hollywood String Quartet. British Pianist Nicholas Burns has performed in the US, Canada, Spain, Germany and all around the UK. His performances have been broadcast by BBC Radio 3 (UK) and Radio Maribou (Germany), and he has recorded four critically acclaimed albums for Nimbus & Lyrita. He is most often heard alongside violinist Louisa Stonehill as part of the Steinberg Duo.

The quartet takes its name from the winged seeds produced by the abundant maple trees surrounding their rehearsal studio in Keene, New Hampshire. For their inaugural season of concerts the Quartet will be making appearances at Marlboro College, Keene State College, and Dartmouth College, along with several other appearances around New England. At Marlboro they will be playing the Brahms Piano Quartet No.1 in G minor, Op. 25, and Dvorak Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op.87.

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